Out Like Flynn

by Mark SteynSteyn on AmericaApril 30, 2020

https://www.steynonline.com/10263/out-like-flynn

Under cover of Corona, the sewage of the DC septic tank flows on. The latest revelations in the Deep State entrapment of Michael Flynn (Trump's first National Security Advisor, for about twenty minutes) confirm what most sentient creatures have known for three years - that there was never any good-faith basis for the FBI's investigation, only (in the now released words of Assistant Counterintelligence Division Director Bill Priestap) the object "to get him to lie, so we can prosecute him or get him fired".

The official pretext was that there might have been "a violation of the Logan Act". Oooooooh! The Logan Act of 1799 refers to a Dr George Logan, physician, farmer and Pennsylvania state legislator, who, at a time of tension in Franco-American relations, engaged in his own negotiations with the government in Paris. In the two and a quarter centuries since, there have been no convictions under the Act, and, in the event anyone were ever to be the first so convicted, it would undoubtedly be struck down as unconstitutional. John Kerry, one notes, has not been prosecuted for his recent meetings with his pal Zarif, "foreign minister" of Iran, about how to save Obama's deal with the mullahs.

In the case of Flynn, any hypothetical Logan prosecution would have been more ridiculous still - because he was not a freelance Pennsylvania doctor but the duly designated National Security Advisor of the incoming president. Peter Strzok went over to Flynn's office to (as they say of bent British coppers) fit him up - and indeed they did fit him up.

So one conversation, with disgraced corrupt rogue agent Strzok, without counsel present and without the defendant being aware that this was an interrogation of him as opposed to just a friendly intragovernmental chit-chat, has consumed three years of Flynn's life and all his savings.

I heard Kellyanne Conway being asked this morning about whether Trump should now pardon Flynn. No. It is for the court, as an act of judicial hygiene, to accept Flynn's withdrawal of his enforced guilty plea (made under threats by the feds to destroy the lives of various family members, too), quash the conviction as a miscarriage of justice, and invite the defense to lay before His Honor a wrongful prosecution suit.

If it requires a presidential pardon to bring garbage like this to an end, then we are all in trouble. Because if the Deep Staters can do it to Flynn, they can do it to anyone. It behooves Judge Emmett Sullivan to rule upon what has been a fraud upon the court from day one - and a fraud upon his court specifically: the documents made public this week were ordered to be handed over to Flynn's lawyers two years ago (February 2018) but were in fact only coughed up now because Jeff Jensen, a federal prosecutor in St Louis appointed by Attorney-General Bill Barr to look into the DoJ's conduct of the Flynn case, recently stumbled across them. A system in which prosecutorial misconduct requires a presidential pardon to undo it is not merely absurd but wicked: justice requires that Judge Sullivan extinguish the state's assault upon his own courthouse.

Oh, but the Comey-Mueller crowd will protest, Flynn confessed to the crime!

Well, sorta: He was prevailed upon to (in the sleazy euphemism) "settle". I hate settling - because, in the civil courts, it incentivizes the use of litigation as a form of blackmail; and, in the criminal courts, it leads to what happened in the Flynn case: a man confessing to a crime he does not honestly believe he has committed.

So why did he do it? Well, his then lawyers told him to. Why would they do that? Because the dirty rotten stinking corrupt federal justice system wins 99 per cent of its cases, 97 per cent without going to court. Kim Jong-Un's Attorney-General (assuming he has or needs one) can only marvel. A culture of judicial "settling" is by definition corrupt. Me a decade ago when my old boss Conrad Black was quaintly insisting on his day in court:

"Settling" is a very unsettling concept in the criminal context - in part because it destroys equality before the law: Someone who's got twenty bucks in his savings account can be forced to "settle" long before someone with twenty mil. In the case of this particular investigation, there was certainly foreign collusion in the 2016 election: Mrs Clinton colluded with an MI6 spook who colluded with his contacts in the Kremlin. But Hillary doesn't have to "settle" because she's never had anything to fear from the Strzoks and Comeys. For those less able to withstand the onslaught, the preponderance of American media see no injustice in the Flynn fit-up. For example, former federal prosecutor and CNN "legal analyst" Renato Mariotti:

This isn't unusual at all.

Michael Flynn was treated like thousands of other subjects who were interviewed by FBI agents.

If you don't like how Flynn was treated, change the rules for everyone. Because this is how it works.

Yeah, well, I've been pretty consistent on that, too. "This criminal case is about lying - lying to the FBI," as the US Attorney declared sonorously in announcing the prosecution of Martha Stewart. Who was that federal boy scout? Oh, yeah: Renowned liar James Comey. Me sixteen years ago:

Martha, it seems, will be going to jail for telling a lie. Not in court, not under oath, not perjury, but merely when the Feds came round to see her about a possible crime. They couldn't prove she'd committed a crime, so they nailed her for lying while chit-chatting to them about the non-crime. And for that they're prepared to destroy her company.

It's true that it's an offence to lie to the Feds. But, as my New Hampshire neighbours Tom and Scott, currently in my basement stretching out a little light carpentry job to the end of the winter, are the first to point out, the Feds lied to the public about Waco and Ruby Ridge (another bloodbath) for years. If the Feds can lie to the people, why can't the people lie to the Feds?

Misremembering to the FBI should not be a crime - especially not on the basis of a politically motivated policeman's supposedly contemporaneous "notes", rather than an audio or video recording. Instead of a presidential pardon, why not repeal this vile pseudo-crime that mocks due process? I take it that, the GOP having lost the House, Congress will not enact a new Strzok Act, restoring the citizen's right to misremember to a corrupt police agency's goons, but why cannot Bill Barr suspend this "crime" pending an investigation into its misuse by prosecutors over recent years?

While we're at it, how about another modest reform? Me again, three years ago:

During the stupid and anachronistic two-and-a-half-month electoral 'transition', the outgoing Administration worked round the clock to de-legitimize and cripple their successors.

No other government in the free world requires this long to respect the results of an election. Even before the Obama-Biden Administration decided to weaponize the "transition", it served as the most obvious example of the general sclerosis of Swampland: why be surprised that in an emergency the government takes months to get out your relief check of twelve hundred bucks when even in normal times it requires three months to clear out its desks? How about a constitutional amendment to the Twentieth Amendment shortening the transition to three weeks?

Oh, well, I can dream, can't I? There's a popular American vernacular expression to the effect that, if you're not on offense, you're on defense. After three years of seeing innocent persons traduced and ruined by a corrupt bureaucracy working to subvert the results of free and fair elections, is it too much to expect the enervated Republican Party and its flabby cheerleaders in Conservative Inc actually to rouse themselves and try a little offense?

No need to answer that question, is there?

~We openedThe Mark Steyn Club just shy of three years ago, and I'm thrilled by all those SteynOnline supporters across the globe - from Fargo to Fiji, Vancouver to Vanuatu, Surrey to the Solomon Islands - who've signed up to be a part of it. My only regret is that we didn't launch it seventeen years ago, but better late than never. You can find more information about the Clubhere - and, if you've a pal who might be partial to this sort of thing, don't forget our specialGift Membership.

Oh, and if you're seriously chafing under the house arrest, there's no better way to cock a snook at the lockdown than by booking a berth on ourThird Annual Steyn Cruise sailing the Med this autumn - and with the above-mentioned Conrad Black, Michele Bachmann, John O'Sullivan and Douglas Murray among our shipmates. We'll be attempting some seaboard versions of The Mark Steyn Show, Tales for Our Time, our Sunday Poem and other favorite features. If you're minded to give it a go, don't leave it too late: as with most travel and accommodations, the price is more favorablethe earlier you book - and, if the lockdown ever does gets lifted, why use your newfound freedom of movement just to visit the county fair or see X-Men 47 at the multiplex when you can bestride the world like a cruising collossus?

I'll be back here tomorrow with the weekend edition of The Mark Steyn Show. Hope you'll tune in.

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98 Member Comments

Wayne Lanham • May 4, 2020 at 10:21

In my view the most troubling aspect about the Flynn investigation and all the others is simply that the perpetrators appear to genuinely believe they are in the right. If they were hooked to a polygraph and asked if they believe they did the right thing, they would pass with flying colors. And this no doubt portends an unpleasant future for those who desire a return to real liberty and freedom in this country.

E Nelson • May 3, 2020 at 11:38

So the defenders of Flynn's conviction are actually defending:The collusion of the DNC, FBI, Russian intel, a rogue foreign spy to interfere in the 2016 election. And then to use the fruit of that collusion, fraudulent FISA warrants and the corrupt deceptive use of those warrants. All to criminalize those around the President and to ultimately remove the President for completely fabricated reasons. And also that weaponizing the "independent" counsel, to synthesize crimes against a President's circle in the expectation that weak links in that circle would lie about the President to enable his impeachment and removal.The evidence against Gen. Flynn was acquired corruptly, the evidence of how it was acquired was corruptly withheld, the blackmailing of Gen. Flynn using his son was corruptly motivated, and the goal was nothing less than an illegal coup attempt by the DNC colluding with criminals in the DOJ, FBI, Russia, DOS, Obama Administration. In America the fruit of illegal procedures is supposed to be tossed out. There is no choice, if the rule of law still counts, but to toss out all charges and to exonerate Gen. Flynn and give him back his money, life and good name.

Drew E Nelson • May 3, 2020 at 13:27

You've made a clear cut case but it's a sad truth that the US legal system (note I don't think it deserves the term "justice" system any longer) has also been severely compromised by the insertion of Dem judge appointees who prioritize leftist ideology over justice. Keep appealing and you'll get to one of these bent black robes eventually. Note that there has been no outcry from either the "fooled" FISA judges nor Justice Roberts over the disgusting behavior leading to unwarranted FISA warrants. Professional credentials are no safeguard against socialist rot. A cadre of so-called scientists have similarly given up their integrity for gushers of government funding directed by permanent bureaucrats to climate alarmists prescribing bigger government as a "solution" to bogus problems.

Tom Gelsinon E Nelson • May 3, 2020 at 14:15

Exactly, E. That is what they are defending, and it is sickening. They might as well be saying "if the government charges you with a crime, you must be guilty, 'cause, you know, the government said so." It is unfortunate, to put it mildly, that many educated, articulate people who happily defend this political version of the she-wore-a-tight-sweater defense of legal rape, cannot see two steps ahead â€” that such methods can and will be used against them in the future.

Tom Gelsinon Drew • May 3, 2020 at 14:29

Re: the lack of outrage on the part of judges and the majority of the legal community. Odd, huh?

Tom Gelsinon Tom Gelsinon • May 3, 2020 at 14:49

meant to say "happily support this political version of ..."

E Nelson • May 3, 2020 at 09:41

This is America's Dreyfuss Affair, only instead of fabricating crimes based on being Jewish, the crimes are fabricated based on being Republican.
Instead of a corrupt Church organizing the mob hatred, it is a corrupt media and their democrat party/bureaucrat enablers.
The French made the correct choice, ultimately.Time will tell if America will make the correct choice as well.

Michael Cavino • May 3, 2020 at 08:54

Can you imagine the reaction of the pathetic media if the FBI had done something similar to former National Security Advisor Susan Rice for her misleading statements after the Benghazi murders? The cries of racism and sexism by the Feds from the Beltway media would be never ending.

Drew • May 2, 2020 at 16:26

Yet another example of entrapment is the Scooter Libby case where special "persecuter" Patrick Fitzgerald, friend of Comey, KNEW Libby was not the source of the supposed leak of desk jockey Valerie Plame's "secret" CIA affiliation but continued the browbeating until Libby misremembered something that got called a lie. The real object was to discredit George W. Bush by association. This appears to be a pattern, the DOJ/FBI/CIA modus operandi against any Republican President now: 1) pressure multiple associates no matter how many rungs down 2) call remembering something incorrectly a lie to federal officers. The Clintons by contrast, lawyers themselves and with a phalanx of lawyers beside them during pro forma investigations of their very real wrongdoing answered dozens of times "I don't remember". With their massive memory lapses, it's a wonder Bill finished 2 presidential terms and Hillary thought she was fit to do the same!

Babs from Cali Drew • May 4, 2020 at 15:08

Or that Hillary STILL feels she's "fit to do the same". Is it true that the Dems are planning to have a contested convention, then install Hillary as their presidential candidate with Obama as her Vice President?

Al Man from CA • May 2, 2020 at 10:38

I know it's not possible, but in the photo above, doesn't that look like Rush with his new beard holding that stupid sign? I think he would get a kick out of it if he sees it.

Joseph Dornisch • May 1, 2020 at 23:15

You should have a chat with your old pal, Jonah Goldberg, about settling and pleading guilty.

Steven Payne • May 1, 2020 at 21:25

Something about this whole thing just doesn't add up to me. No, not what Mark writes about, something else. It's Flynn himself. This man was a general, not a private or corporal. Furthermore, he was National Security Advisor. So why does he come off as so inept? Inept and weak. Descriptions of him tend to be of the "babe in the woods" and "lamb to the slaughter" variety. What?! If anything, shouldn't he be the wolf in the room? Shouldn't he have his wits about him a little more?We are told that he pled because they were threatening to prosecute his son. What was his son into that made that a credible threat?Finally, why did all this happen with Trump's people in charge of the DOJ? Why has it taken 3 years for this information to come out, with Trump and his people in charge the whole time?I don't get it.

Fran Lavery Â Steven Payne • May 2, 2020 at 12:15

This is what has been bothering me, too, Steven. When this all started it seemed there were other things Flynn was involved in that got swept out of the way but there may be no substance to them at all, and we may never know. I suspect Trump had enough things to pay attention to since he was sworn in. And after all, they don't call it the Deep State for nothing. It's far deeper than any one knew.

Walt Trimmer Steven Payne • May 2, 2020 at 13:51

General Flynn had some sketchy relationship with Turkey's President Erdogan and the coup attempt. In my Afghanistan adventure I met some marvelous military officers but once past the Lt. Col/Commander level the promotion process becomes political and seems to filter out the talented officers. From my limited experience, the higher the rank does not mean the better the officer. Looking at the retired generals that advise Fox News, just color me unimpressed.

Trump has never controlled the DOJ or the "Intelligence Community." My guess is that at least 90% of those parts of the government are what we call The Deep State.

Tom Gelsinon Steven Payne • May 2, 2020 at 14:02

"Trump's people" were not in charge. Many were holdovers, and some appointees were obviously loyal only to things other than the administration â€” or justice itself for that matter. The idea that Flynn and his son must be guilty of something they have not been charged with, which is your implication, is pathetic, especially since there is now so much evidence of prosecutorial dishonesty in the sham investigations and trials that have roiled the nation for the past three years. As Mark and others have noted, the feds have a 99 percent conviction rate, which they achieve through ham-handed intimidation. Maybe you can get that being framed, bankrupted, threatened with false imprisonment, and having family, friends and colleagues threatened with same would cause someone to act in the way Flynn has. Also, recently released documents indicate that the lawyers who advised him to plead, who were supposed to be representing him in good faith, seem to have been making self-serving deals, unknown to Flynn, with the prosecutors. And remember, Flynn thought the FBI agents were there on a friendly, information-sharing visit, not a gotcha interrogation. Comey has publicly bragged that it was in fact a setup put in motion during the first weeks of the new administration. There is indeed an awful lot to add up and get about the framing and disgraceful prosecution of Gen. Flynn.

Steven Payne Tom Gelsinon • May 2, 2020 at 23:00

Tom, the idea that Flynn and his son must be guilty is what you inferred, not what I implied. I didn't imply anything, I said it. I said that Flynn comes out of this looking inept and weak. He thought that high ranking FBI agents from the previous administration questioning him about Russia were just there for a friendly chat? Really? Is that the man you want giving you advice on national security?I haven't heard that about his lawyers, but I already thought that, if you bankrupt yourself paying lawyers to advise you to plead guilty, you're not very bright. You could get that advice from any 3rd rate public defender.Finally, I didn't say that Flynn's son was guilty. I said I wanted to know what it was that they were threatening to prosecute him for. Apparently, whatever it was, his dad thought he was guilty.

Steven Payne Steven Payne • May 4, 2020 at 04:44

UPDATE! Well, well, well. Since I wrote that, I have come across new information. I listened to Viva Frei and Robert Barnes discuss this case and had my questions pretty well answered. So, with a "Steve, you ignorant slut" I'll share what I now think:

Flynn: not inept nor weak. I had no idea the extent to which this man was sabotaged and back-stabbed by even those who were supposedly on his side.Flynn's son: was basically going to be given the same treatment as his father for a similar thing.Flynn's original defense team: should probably go to prison.Trump: did not acquit himself well in this case.The DOJ and the FBI: this would've lowered my opinion of them, but I don't think that's possible.

So, my opinion has changed greatly. My original questions were sincere based on what I knew then, but now they've been answered and I think very differently about this case.

Tom Gelsinon Steven Payne • May 4, 2020 at 21:49

Steven,Good on ya for checking further into this. The DOJ and the FBI are going to have to work long and hard to regain trust. The legal profession itself hasn't covered itself in glory either. Anyway, I don't know if you've read or watched anything about the case of Howard Root, who owned a medical device company, but it is a terrifying story of how the feds (FDA) and fed lawyers came after him over nothing, and cost him millions and 5 years of his life in litigation hell, and enduring threats of imprisonment â€” the whole treatment.

Tom Gelsinon Tom Gelsinon • May 4, 2020 at 22:01

There is a video of him online talking about it, and he wrote a book about the trial as well.

Kevin • May 1, 2020 at 16:46

I always thought it was off-the-mark to see people on the right say/write things like "the government" doing this or that to you, or "the government" is the problem. I would suggest the opposite sentiment. There's nothing wrong with our of government. Constitutional Federalism is great! It's the people in it who are the problem. It seems that we have way too many anti-Constitution seditionists and rebels, if you will, in our government, actively working to undermine it. They're the anti-government types....it's the right who is actually pro-government.

PaulTyrone • May 1, 2020 at 11:33

My father loved James Cagney movies for one simple reason. Jimmy was always the little guy that had to punch the bully in face. Dad told me never to argue with stupid people and avoid them at all costs. The bully is different. He persists to exert power over you or (even worse) someone you care about. "Punch him in the nose and he won't bother you again" dad would say. I never heard about anyone bullying my dad. He was the "powerful quiet man" that only a fool or lunatic would "try". Dad stood up for the little guy and punched a few noses both physically and rhetorically (wit can cut deep) defending his friends and family. It seems the bully is the FBI and I would love nothing more than to see Mike Flynn kick Jim Comey's pompous, sissy ass.

Al Man from CA • May 1, 2020 at 10:45

I may be wrong with this observation, but weren't Flynn's original lawyers members of Eric Holder's law firm?If so, Flynn was doomed from the get-go. Who on earth would have recommended them? Hint; Deep State.He is so lucky to have Sidney Powell now.

Fran Lavery Â Al Man from CA • May 2, 2020 at 12:11

Al, if that's not the truth, I never heard the truth. Did you hear her on Rush Wednesday or Thursday, I think, talking with Ken Matthews, when she said, "people just want the truth now. They are so sick of all this crap."

Mike Walsh • May 1, 2020 at 08:41

Nobody who should go to prison will go to prison, and that's the bottom line. The perps are all made guys, members or servants of the governing class. You're either one of them, or you're little people.

poxy • May 1, 2020 at 08:33

Just watched Flynn's lawyer Sidney Powell on Fox Business with Maria Bartiromo, the latest news seems to be that yesterday Judge Sullivan has ordered that there's to be no more "filings" - can anyone explain what that means and how it might bring "justice" forward? I should add that I'm now a total disbeliever in anything "government" . Also, why do we expect honesty and truth when our elected representatives can say anything they wish - true or false - with impunity, so long as they're on the floor of the House to which they've been elected?

E Nelson poxy • May 3, 2020 at 11:41

It means the Judge is a Pharisee, corruptly using the law to impose injustice.

James Morphew • May 1, 2020 at 08:25

Mark's summaries of the tales of Fed excess always make me shudder. BUt let's keep shining the light, and continuing the fight. Our challenge is to inform the rest of America.

Dennis • May 1, 2020 at 06:43

Thanks to Mark for eloquently humanizing some of the elderly deaths that are being tabulated daily during this Covid-19 outbreak. It's a welcome contrast, to the daily abstract math stats. It seems that the bond between (most) grandparents and their grandchildren is one of the few human relationships where the lives of the youngest and the oldest are mutually valued and respected no matter which end of the human life cycle they might be at.

Does anybody know why Mark is not on Tucker anymore via Skype or in the studio like Dennis Miller in L.A. is on Hannity in New York? I must have missed Mark's explanation or specifics about his isolation.

Roger CJ • May 1, 2020 at 06:18

Well said, Mark: "...why cannot Bill Barr suspend this 'crime' pending an investigation into its misuse by prosecutors over recent years?" As usual, Prez Trump is making the right call: no Pardon required here because doing so would acknowledge the Stasi-like indictment and coerced 'confession' of one of your political opponent's duly-appointed Inner Circle. This cannot stand. Flynn should be officially and publicly exonerated, compensation paid, and the perpetrators of this stain on our justice system perp-walked into Federal custody. On TV.

In this new era (hopefully ending soon) of Covid-inspired assaults on our civil liberties, even a small amount of Justice and Swamp-Draining would be a welcome balm to ease the injured soul of us mere citizens.

Steven Payne • May 1, 2020 at 03:01

The problem is not that our government lies. It's that we know they do, we catch them in it, and then... what happens? Usually, nothing. Look, there's that guy we caught lying, he's commenting on CNN! And that guy we caught has a new book coming out, etc. etc. etc.I have a feeling that I'm not real popular around here lately, so let me make myself even more unpopular. You know what I thought when that Chinese guy accused us of being the real origin of the virus? I thought "yeah, I could see it." Don't think it's likely, but don't think it's impossible, either.The reason I don't get as upset at the Chinese government as a lot of people do is that I'm more upset about my own government. That's the one we should have some control over, isn't it?

Josh Passell Steven Payne • May 1, 2020 at 07:11

I see what you did there, Steve, trying to get back in our good graces: "... I'm more upset about my own government." Atta boy! All Club privileges fully restored. As if we could stay mad at you, ya big lug.As to your suggestion that it's not out of the question that the US could have been the origin, I thought something similar to your "Yeah, I could see it." We certainly have the research facilities. But then I remembered who was making the accusation and why, and my Wag the Dog suspicions gave way to my Manchurian Candidate suspicions. If forced to choose between China's record of lying and genocide and our own, it's an easy call. Sure, I'd have fun with the Jack Benny line "I'm thinking!" But it's a no-brainer. Call me an American chauvinist and I'll say "Thank you, sir! May I have another?"

Steven Payne Josh Passell • May 1, 2020 at 08:18

Not so fast there, Josh. I'm luxuriating in my new role of club heel. In case you don't know, the "heel" is what they call the bad guy in pro wrestling, the one the fans love to hate. I'm hoping, if I play my cards right, to work this into a steel cage match with Mark on the upcoming cruise.You'd pay big bucks to see that, wouldn't you?

Fran Lavery Â Steven Payne • May 1, 2020 at 12:10

Ahahaahahah! Yes, I would.

Fran Lavery Â Josh Passell • May 1, 2020 at 12:13

Thank you for breaking the ice, Josh. I couldn't take the added tension. It has already been a rocky road being shut in, down and up while living in the sunniest most sprawling, least inhabited state in the country next to Montana perhaps.

Babs from Cali Steven Payne • May 4, 2020 at 16:00

So Steven, I haven't been on here in quite a while so I missed all the apparent fuss over your poison penmanship. I'm curious to know what you and others think of word leaking out that Fauci funded this Wuhan lab with millions of $$, that he and Gates have had a vaccine to Covid19 patented for two years already which is loaded with "live" virus which will kill a couple million more who take it, which they don't mind cause they're all about population reduction and world control, and Gates admitted to as much for his own liability protection. If all this is true, and I'm not saying some or all of it is, then there would be some cause for China to claim it came from the US, just not the military. I've also heard/read that the French contributed money to the lab too but were eventually kicked out by China and this lab has always been a bio-weapon lab. And if Gates and Fauci have a vaccine they own the patent on and it is forced upon citizens to take, and it is indeed loaded with "live" virus, God help us. I'm also seeing doctors and nurses claiming they are being forced to declare that just about anyone and every one who dies is a Covid death, which then has drastically inflated the death totals, at least here in the US. Why would this happen - they get paid more money for Covid deaths than regular deaths, so many have no insurance at all, or they hate Trump and this is just another coordinated way to stop him getting relected.

Are we witnessing the forced implementation of the One World Government led, not by a dictator, but by those who had been entrusted with our health safety? This whole lock-down is gaining much deeper suspicion as another cog in their plan to take control over everyone and force us to have some chip on our phones or bodies to track our every movement.

Cause seems to me Fauci et al are the people already with all the power and unknowingly President Trump is caught in the middle of it all and as duped as the rest of us. Some also floating a coming Trump assassination as part of the "inside" take over. Frankly, I've been surprised for 3 years that there has been no attempt on his life to date (or at least none we've been told about) cause they hate him so much.

Don't come "at me". I'm not claiming anything, just throwing out what I've been hearing this week cause you all seem pretty savvy and I'd like opinions for and against these revelations as true or mere conspiracy theories. Comments?

Todd Endres • May 1, 2020 at 02:47

Perfect. Thank you.

Necessity of Choice • May 1, 2020 at 00:22

That 'philosophic' digger for facts, Stefan Molyneux, has an interview with Lawyer Robert Barnes, pointing out that the naive General Flynn had to be, and was easily, taken out by the FBI. As Trumps nominated Security Adviser, he had identified 'white knights' and primed them to move into key positions in the administration for the purposes of draining the swamp. When he went, they went too, and the continual harassment of the Trump administration was up and running from Russiagate to the impeachment. Having seen what happened to Flynn, no wonder Jeff Sessions recused himself, he would have been terrified of the weaponised federal law enforcement agencies turning their sights on him.

- Since the early 1970s, Weinstein says, this phenomenon [of "embedded growth obligation"] has occurred in virtually every field, and it's helped produce institutions that are more concerned with growth and self-preservation than holding honest positions. The result is an altered incentive structure within institutions: Experts are rewarded for sustaining the institution, not necessarily for being honest or doing the best work in their field.

- Individuals â€“ disagreeable ones, in particular â€“ could help save us from this mess.

- Weinstein says our institutions need people who can stand up to the pressures of conformity and authority.

- "Individuals in very small groups are about the only thing that is free of the disease of the embedded growth obligation," Weinstein says. "And so, the paradox is that the individuals have to save the institutions that are trying to extinguish them, because the institutions don't want to hear this message. But in fact, if they don't make use of the tiny number of people functioning as individuals or in small organizations, all of this is going to collapse because it cannot continue along its current exponential path."

Perry Pattetic • Apr 30, 2020 at 20:26

Until there are sanctions and penalties under the criminal law for breaches of our constitutionally-guaranteed freedoms, the swamp will keep on swamping. Keeping on going back to the corrupt justice system for civil penalties is not working.

Segnes Schonken Perry Pattetic • May 1, 2020 at 00:14

Makes good sense to me, P.

Paul G. • Apr 30, 2020 at 20:04

I wouldn't take the bait on Renato Mariott's statement ( whoever he is). It's just the usual "move on, there's nothing to see here. " This was the key move in allowing the resistance to shelter in place to booby trap every Trump initiative to counter the infiltration of the police state that Obama and the Democrats were constructing. Shocked by the unfortunate and unexpected interregnum, they scrambled all of the conspiritors to be sure "the agenda (globalism I guess) would survive the next three , four or or six months until they could defenestrate Trump. They already knew they could deal with the likes of Pence, and in fact ,as a bonus , were able to use him as a pawn in the scheme. As nice and kind a man as he is, he 's never shown the armor he needs to deal with these serpents(the children of this world are in their generation wiser than the children of light.Lk. 16:8), and I suspect he has quite a bit to be nervous about as Flynn's. gag is removed.

John Shuba • Apr 30, 2020 at 19:47

About a week ago Greg Gutfeld made a perfect observation about the current relationship between the government and its subjects. Greg pointed out that when the government WANTS your money it provides an almost embarrassing number of ways to pay. You can pay online, over your phone, with credit cards, with debit cards, by mail or by Pony Express (presumably.) But when you want money from the government (even money you have a right to,) you have to hurdle more obstacles than every those put up in every steeplechase event since 1900. Its the same thing with justice - When they are looking to take you down then no extravagant expense or resource is too much. When you insist on your rights they do all they can to see YOU DON'T exercise them.

Jill Felzan • Apr 30, 2020 at 18:32

I found Mark's comments here and on Rush this week about the startling differentials in the number of covid 19 cases and deaths among countries very interesting

While it's been observed from the beginning that deaths from covid 19 were very disproportionately among the elderly, it seems only very recently that there has been some real focus on the very disproportionate association of covid 19 risk and long term care facilities of various kinds.

Kaiser Family Foundation recently reported that it estimates that some 10,000 people across the US who have died from covid were in LT care facilities. Only some 30 plus states report any covid information relating to LT care, but for the ones who do, the percentages for some of these states are huge, e.g., for Pennsylvania, Massachusetts and Colorado, it's 50% or more. New Jersey says 40%; New York reports 18%, but New York. The Kaiser write-ups are unclear whether the deaths they are describing as LT care facilities deaths are of people who died in those faculties or if they include people who were taken to a hospital from such a facility and then passed away in the hospital.

Today the WHO (hopefully some more reliable section of it) in their press briefing claimed that they believe that at least 50 percent of the deaths in Europe were related to LT care facilities. If you google around, there's articles raising the issue for the UK, Ireland and France

Maybe the countries that don't have many covid 19 cases and deaths don't rely much on LT care facilities and have extended family care for elders instead. a

Adam • Apr 30, 2020 at 17:57

This travesty of justice falls under a broad category of abuse conducted by "Gentry professional" class that believe that their superior morality entitles them to behave in appallingly bad ways. There seems to be a growing consensus among social elites that they are entitled to use any means however underhanded and unprincipled to ensure that you cannot meaningfully dissent from their ideological program. If the alternative to globalism is by default Hitlerism then any means are justified to squelch opposition. You see this attitude expressed everywhere. Bill Kristol "principled conservative icon" who loves the "deep state", The late Lord laws who thought that democracy means Solomonic rule imposed and invented by him, John Bercow misappropriating commons procedure in service of "democracy" and the goons at DOJ defending our democracy by entrapping a political opponent and putting him through a sham trial. The media sees this bad behavior and says more please. In days of old monarchs of claimed to rule by grace of god our credential-ocracy of Ivy League hot shots rules by Grace of Rachel Maddow. MSNBC Totalitarianism - Bringing Democracy to the Plebs whether they like or not!

Babs from Cali Adam • May 4, 2020 at 16:18

Well, aren't they really just communists? I mean, their attitudes and their rhetoric and their intolerance to dissent are commonplace in totalitarian regimes. When Comey was bragging about what he did to Flynn, the audience was laughing and applauding him. It was nauseating. Didn't any of them stop to think about what he really did? I doubt it. They hate Trump as well and thought Comey very clever. What if it has been Susan Rice? Would they have been laughing and clapping then? Comey would be in prison already if it had been Rice. The depths to which we have sunk in this society is alarming (but not surprising) since so many on the Left have turned their backs on God, Truth and real Justice and so many on the Right are too afraid to stand up to them. Evil will triumph in the short term when the Good do nothing, but in the end God wins and so do the righteous ones who stand with Him.

Andy • Apr 30, 2020 at 16:51

No other government in the free world requires this long to respect the results of an election... Excepting the example of Brexit.

Diane Oliver Andy • May 1, 2020 at 10:01

Technically, that was a referendum not an election. Our elections are very speedy, old one out and new one in, day after the election.

RAC • Apr 30, 2020 at 16:50

Mark has been almost alone in discussing this frightening conviction rate in our Federal justice system - pretty much right up there with the guilty rates achieved in those Soviet show trials back in the day. Once you find yourself in their clutches you have but two choices - give them what they want and plead out or face trial and lose every penny you ever earned and be convicted anyway and face 3-4 times the sentence a plea would have gotten you for having the gall to exercise your right to due process. If you happen to be a trump supporter or just a well known conservative your chances at an acquittal are too small to calculate.

Perry Pattetic • Apr 30, 2020 at 16:28

The Awan brothers got off free - spying, currency violations, all sorts of stuff.Bill Gates and Bill Clinton disappeared from the news along with Epstein's murder.Burisma seems to be a non-event. Seth Rich murder? Crickets.Brennan? Probably still has clearance.It feels like Obama never left.

Segnes Schonken Perry Pattetic • Apr 30, 2020 at 18:53

It does, doesn't it, P.? And we're saying this years after Mr Obama's (official) departure. Doesn't reflect well on Mr Trump's ability to drain swamps. On the other hand, this is no ordinary swamp, evidently.

Perry Pattetic Segnes Schonken • Apr 30, 2020 at 20:34

One fears that we are a long way from "peak swamp", Mr Schonken.It is going to take more than draining, because draining just moves the fetid mess elsewhere.
The DNC IS the Swamp. The Syndicate. The Mob. It has metastasized into the GOP, the media, education, corporate America. Whilst Obama is the heart of the Beast, Paul Ryan is the creature from The Swamp who enabled Pelosi to be reincarnated.

Segnes Schonken Perry Pattetic • May 1, 2020 at 00:11

Ferocious stuff, Mr Pattetic, and as interesting as ever. I'm not sure whether to take heart or lose hope. Perhaps I might ask you for a little more illumination.

I'd love to hear how you define "peak swamp", if you have time to enlighten me. Your last remark is particularly interesting. Do you really attribute the poor Republican performance in the last congressional election entirely to Mr Ryan? I hadn't realised that he was so influential. I'm not asking you for an essay on the subject, but could you briefly explain how he accomplished the Democrats' success? I take it that, now that he has departed, the Republicans will win the lower house at the next opportunity.

On the other hand, you need not explain to me why you think that Mr Obama is the heart of the Beast, and I think that I take your point about more being needed than mere draining, metaphorically speaking. Do you see progress in that matter, by the way?

Brawndo Segnes Schonken • May 1, 2020 at 09:44

As long as the federal government has trillions of dollars to hand out and has virtually unlimited power, the swamp will never be drained. That's just too tempting of a target for the grifters and the totalitarians of the world not to go after.

Segnes Schonken Brawndo • May 1, 2020 at 15:38

I fear that you're right, B.: boils down to good old African-style corruption.

Drew Segnes Schonken • May 2, 2020 at 16:46

Draining the Washington swamp is like one of the labors of Hercules - cleaning out the Augean stables. And Hercules was half god. Mr. Trump is only human though he's shown a superhuman ability to remain standing in the face of unprecedented calumny by the Demedia complex, managing some devastating return volleys.

He needed a cadre of equally dauntless "few good men" but these appear to be thin on the ground, especially when they see what the smear machine does to even those with blameless backgrounds like Justice Kavanaugh.

Segnes Schonken Drew • May 3, 2020 at 00:09

Nothing trivial about taking on the civil service, for sure, D. Bold words about draining the swamp need to be borne out by the feats of a demi-god, as you remind.

Patrick Archer • Apr 30, 2020 at 16:22

I remember, a few years back, that a man was prosecuted and convicted for lying to a park ranger.

I agree with you Mark, lying or misremembering to the FBI should not be a crime. The FBI and courts should exercise discernment to find the truth. I believe that the 1st Amendment affirms the right to lie. I do not believe that lying is a good thing, but often times it's expedient. If ones purpose is to conceal the truth from an adversary or enemy, what does one do? And when the FBI comes calling, they are often times the adversary or enemy.What is really irksome is to witness a Christine Blasey-Ford lying through her teeth before Congress and she goes untried by any prosecutor, and an Adam Schiff lying like a lying rat, without shame and with penalty.
Please Jesus, let us put some of these criminals in prison.

Brawndo Patrick Archer • May 1, 2020 at 09:46

If the FBI or any other government agency comes calling, the two appropriate answers are, "I don't remember," or "Let's make an appointment with my lawyer and we can talk there."

Robert Bridges • Apr 30, 2020 at 16:00

"the Feds lied to the public about Waco and Ruby Ridge (another bloodbath) for years."

As you will remember, the justification to shoot the Ruby Ridge people was that "there was no overriding Constitutional authority". No judge was present at the cabin to determine legality so they could shoot as they wished. This all started when BATFE got Weaver on 1/8" too short cutting of a barrel at their request.

The FBI sniper, Lon Horiuchi, "accidentally" killed Randy Weaver's wife as she held her baby daughter while attempting to shot a running away male. Shot was under 100 yards. My take? Horiuchi tried a two-fer with crosshairs on wife and when runner ran into sight picture... bang. An FBI sniper forgetting a primary rule of knowing what is behind your target? Using pyrotechnic CS gas canisters in WACO with tanks?

Flynn has gotten off "lightly"... he is still breathing. Others... not. When the Feds want you in prison or dead, where is the "overriding Constitutional authority?

Perry Pattetic Robert Bridges • Apr 30, 2020 at 16:54

"When the Feds want you in prison or dead,..."

They did both with Whitey Bulger, whose brother and nephew ties MÃ¼ller and Comey nicely to the DNC, Burisma and Chinese dirty money.

Brawndo Robert Bridges • May 1, 2020 at 09:48

"the Feds lied to the public about Waco and Ruby Ridge (another bloodbath) for years."

No, no, no. Wrong tense.

Robert Stewart • Apr 30, 2020 at 15:54

Mark, I'm delighted that you have taken notice of the recent developments in Flynn's case. It would be great if you could arrange an interview with Flynn similar to the Papadopoulos videos. And if not Flynn, how about Svetlana Lokhova? She was dragged into this by Stefan Halper as part of the frame up of Flynn. She didn't appreciate her one time graduate advisor and current colleague portraying her as a Russian agent in the UK press in the early part of 2017. It is remarkable that Judge Sullivan has been so passive and ineffective. I've read that his stance may have been to force Powell to take the actions she has taken. But this shows a complete lack of personal responsibility on Sullivan's part. To have the authority to correct a wrong but instead to sit idly by is a sickening display of cowardice and selfishness.

Walt Trimmer • Apr 30, 2020 at 15:54

Something wicked this way comes. This time is different, what was done against Flynn was treason. It should be punished with death. The sad thing that shows how corrupt this republic has become is in the unlikely event the coup d'etat conspirators are ever prosecuted, they will not be convicted in the D.C. courts. Look at the example of Greg Craig lying about Ukraine last year and being acquitted and the opposite reflection in the case of Roger Stone. Politicians enact unconstitutional tyranny and call it virtue. I have been cast adrift by my country.

Segnes Schonken Walt Trimmer • Apr 30, 2020 at 18:49

Piquantly put, W. I'm with you.

RAC Walt Trimmer • May 1, 2020 at 14:37

We all have Walt and I agree - no one will be successfully prosecuted for this wide spread treason conducted across our most powerful government agencies. Most of the players remain in place especially in the CIA, NSA and the National intelligence agency. This year alone the FBI has received 24 FISA warrants considered to be improperly obtained according the the Inspector General with no push back or accountability that I've seen. How Christopher Wray ever got appointed is quite mind boggling. Tweedledee replacing Tweedledum.

Todd Lewis • Apr 30, 2020 at 15:46

General Flynn must be made whole. We desperately need a legal system based on restitution, a system designed to put an end to weaponized and frivolous litigation and preserve the innocent intact. What are the chances?

Michael Lefkove Todd Lewis • Apr 30, 2020 at 16:15

Slim? Most likely, none.

Linda P. Todd Lewis • May 1, 2020 at 10:28

I agree that General Flynn should be made whole, plus a bit for "wrongful infliction of emotional distress." But not by the government, i.e. taxpayers. Rather those who purposefully and wrongfully inflicted this horror on him--and not as a rightful exercise of their governmental positions--should have to reach into their own savings/retirement funds to compensate him. Even if it entirely empties their accounts.

Turnabout is fair play. In this case, VERY fair play.

Perry Pattetic • Apr 30, 2020 at 15:28

Flynn and Stone seem to have a couple of especially bent judges.These last few years, the US Judicial system has been on trial - they just don't realize it.FISA? Guilty. 9th Circuit? Guilty. Amy Berman Jackson? Guilty. Emmet Sullivan. Guilty.Marks's many judges? Guilty.

poxy • Apr 30, 2020 at 15:23

Nobody is above the law, we're all in this together. The two biggest lies which will apparently circle until the end of time. Talk about a circular firing squad.

Peter Marsh • Apr 30, 2020 at 15:19

In the movie 'No Country for Old Men', there's a scene between two police officers sitting at a lunch table where they talk about how bad things were getting in Texas at that time. The older one says "It's the tide, the dismal tide: It is not the one thing."

It's not the Flynn case alone that is depressing to contemplate, but the creeping dismal tide of government corruption, which seems irresistible.

And most news reports come from anonymous sources that can't be checked, everything important is classified as secret, documents are sealed by the court, or redacted by agencies to the point of meaninglessness, etc.. The investigative processes drag on and on until at last the matter is dropped, no charges are filed, no trials occur, no discovery, no facts, no resolution, no nothing. Then perhaps the clock is run out, a new administration takes over, and it's business as usual, move along, nothing to see here. And the Washington Post dryly notes: 'Democracy dies in darkness'.

Getting back to the movie, surveying a body-strewn crime scene in the desert, a young police officer says: "It's a mess, ain't it, Sherriff"

And the Sheriff replies: "If it ain't, it'll do 'till the mess gets here"

Segnes Schonken Peter Marsh • Apr 30, 2020 at 18:48

Excellent post, P.: entertaining and meaningful. Not a trick I can perform. I'll look out for more from you.

Brawndo Peter Marsh • May 1, 2020 at 09:51

"Democracy dies in darkness" and the WaPo has zero desire to flip on the lights. They only take what is handed to them on a brightly lit corner in the middle of Times Square.

RAC Peter Marsh • May 1, 2020 at 15:07

There was another great line from that film that has stuck with me. The conversation Llewelyn has with the gal at the motel swimming pool who's noticed he's spooked about something and asks about it - he replies 'just lookin' for what's comin' and she says "yeah, but nobody ever sees that". We could cite another dozen great lines that stick with you. The dialog is of course from Cormac McCarthy and often verges on the poetic. Loved the references Peter. Your Washington Post quote is certainly ironic. Very little self-awareness over there.

Wm. P. • Apr 30, 2020 at 15:18

Considering the depth & breadth of corruption in the U.S. 'justice' establishment a Carthaginian solution seems more appropriate by the day.

Brian from Minneapolis • Apr 30, 2020 at 15:14

Like the FBI hasn't done this before to "get the job done". We've been told these agencies are out to look out for us and if they bend or break the rules it's for the good of the nation. But this is the type of tactics you'd see in the former USSR or now in China. When will justice come for the deep state, China, and their agent Dr. WHO?

Santa Cruzin • Apr 30, 2020 at 15:11

I hope the silver lining is a civil rights lawsuit from Flynn's highly capable counsel. Put the "settling" shoe on the other foot so to speak. Sue the individual miscreants for punitive damages and add the criminal defense costs to Flynn's constitutional damages claims. It won't make up for all of Flynn's troubles but I can assure you the litigators in the AG's civil division can do the math on the attorney fees claims and the value of Flynn's rights having been egregiously infringed.

Stuart Speer • Apr 30, 2020 at 14:37

Talk to the police only after having established a firm plea of mental incompetence. Otherwise, wait for your lawyer.

Segnes Schonken Stuart Speer • Apr 30, 2020 at 18:44

Brilliant, S.

Segnes Schonken • Apr 30, 2020 at 14:32

Secret policemen are the ultimate expression of the civil service's bureaucratic power, in my experience.

It is a pity that parochial considerations have created ambivalence about secret policemen - "ours" are heroes, "theirs" are thugs. All police forces attract people who like to wield power. Secrecy works against accountability. I fully understand why secret policemen are necessary, as do we all, and I also understand why they need to be kept firmly in hand.

Accordingly, I recommend mistrusting all secret policemen. I commend the institution of that mistrust in oversight organs and strict accountability measures to politicians hoping to win my vote (and especially, in the interest of consistency, to those who claim that they will be draining areas of bureaucratic congestion).

I hope that the ordeal of General Flynn (and others, including the president himself) in recent years will not be in vain and that society will remember the lesson. Sooner or later, the Democrats will return to power, and one would not want to leave them with this unbridled, nay, unmuzzled secret police force *again*. They know too well how to use it.

Stuart Speer Segnes Schonken • May 1, 2020 at 11:35

Conventional police tend to view the general public with a degree of skepticism; secret police are convinced we are all guilty.
I agree we need secret police, but the management of their activities needs to be under the firm control of less pessimistic personnel.

Segnes Schonken Stuart Speer • May 2, 2020 at 01:09

Well put, S. You have the knack of brevity which I lack.

King K • Apr 30, 2020 at 14:29

Notice that it's always a Republican who's the defendant in these sham prosecutions. Ray Donovan, Scooter Libby, Ted Stevens, Tom Delay, not to mention all of the men caught up in the phony Russia collusion cases. A couple years ago, leftist prosecutors even threatened to prosecute the Republican governor of Texas for issuing a veto. Where are the examples in the other direction? And where is the accountability? The prosecutors in the Stevens case should have been disbarred. My recollection is that they were not even fired. There's an important lesson in all of this. The left gets away with anything. People should keep that in mind when they consider what the next societal shutdown will be like if Democrats get control of all branches of the federal government.

Anne Emerson Hall King K • Apr 30, 2020 at 16:26

Notably, one of the DOJ lawyers in the Stevens case was Andrew Weissman. 'Nuff said.

Joe Revesz • Apr 30, 2020 at 14:27

Big problems when the parties fail to disclose a side deal. Flynn's plea counsel failed to have the side deal put in writing and made part of the plea agreement. Judge could seal it if good reason.

In federal court, judge always asks parties if there are any other agreements.

Patrick Sullivan • Apr 30, 2020 at 14:14

"Misremembering to the FBI should not be a crime...."

Especially when there is no underlying crime, as there was not in the Martha Stewart case. She was investigated for 'insider trading' because her friend Sam Waksal, CEO of ImClone sold much of his stock when he found out that the FDA was not going to give a drug being developed, clearance for use. Waksal did break the law, but Martha did not. Proof of which being that she was NOT charged with insider trading by the Feds.

That didn't stop the jurors from convicting her of insider trading--one of the jurors gave an interview in which he all but admitted that that was happened in the jury room--through the back door of, 'lying to the investigators.' Which is probably what the prosecutors figured would happen.

Power corrupts, said Lord Acton, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. He could have added that when the corrupt think they can absolutely get away with wrongdoing, they will.

Josh Passell • Apr 30, 2020 at 14:03

I would add Scooter Libby to the roster of stitch-up victims. Jailed for lying to the Feds about a leak he didn't commit, the actual leaker, Richard Armitage, enjoyed the Bill Ayers lifestyle: "guilty as sin and free as a bird." Being Dick Cheney's guy was Libby's real crime.So, Flynn was set up; the whole of Russia-gate was a lie (not one, not two, but every stinking one of the FISA applications was flawed); and the Logan Act has been re-interred in its shallow grave. I know you've grown skeptical of the Next Report of the Next Investigation, Mark, but when the pile of lies looms higher than the Leaning Tower of Pisa, you can't help but watch for it to topple.

Owen Morgan Josh Passell • Apr 30, 2020 at 14:46

Libby, beyond a doubt, was a victim of Fed malpractice.

You'd think that the Aconcagua-sized heap of evidence against the Deep State ought to be enough to get indictments moving by now. The procession of dodgy bureaucrats in the DoJ/FBI pretty well compares to Banquo's line, doesn't it, after all? Certain people, however, don't want anything to happen before November and I suspect that they will get their way. Only if Donald Trump is re-elected will there be any chance of legal consequences for illegal activities.

Wm. P. Josh Passell • Apr 30, 2020 at 15:21

"[...] every stinking one of the FISA applications was flawed"

It might be more exact to say each of the FISA applications was an exercise in willful, malicious, perjury.

Josh Passell Wm. P. • Apr 30, 2020 at 16:06

It would be exactly more exact to say so. A more cynical mind would suggest that the Obama regime wiped its bum with the Constitution rather than preserve, protect, and defend it.

Michael Seth Josh Passell • Apr 30, 2020 at 16:28

Well said Josh. But to be fair, Obama told us repeatedly what he intended to do with the Constitution. And we elected him. Twice. Too stupid to survive.

Josh Passell Michael Seth • Apr 30, 2020 at 17:33

We both have to allow President Obama was a big Second Amendment supporter, Michael. I'll never forget those stirring lines: "I believe in the Second Amendment. It's there written on the paper." [Shudder] That's right up there with "Give me liberty or give me death."The Bill of Rights--all of it--exists whether one believes in it or not. It comes about as close as putting the unalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness into law as one could imagine. Nice of him to give it his seal of approval, though.

Michael Seth • Apr 30, 2020 at 13:59

Mark, I can only answer your question concerning offense vs. defense with a quote from the Mathew Broderick movie War Games - "The only way to win is not to play". I would add, as someone who worked for years in a state drug court, that the problem corrupts state jurisprudence as well. However well intentioned, drug courts are simply felony factories that coerce defendants into "settling" their cases. A dismissal is dangled as bait in return for an advance guilty plea to the charged felony. The obstacle course to be navigated to achieve the dismissal is an impossible task for most defendants who quickly fail and end up with no deal at all. Not equivalent to the Flynn matter exactly but a form of judicial corruption nonetheless.

Owen Morgan • Apr 30, 2020 at 13:41

I think I read today that Michael Flynn's lawyer is Sidney Powell, author of "Licensed to Lie: Exposing Corruption in the Department of Justice." I am always a bit bemused that Americans think that Sidney (and Morgan, for that matter) are girl's names, but Sidney Powell is a good author and a very tenacious attorney. Not entirely coincidentally, one bÃªte noire of hers is Andrew Weissmann, familiar from the Mueller slogathon.

Even Brit Wanker Coppers don't get away with conducting interviews in the same slapdash way that the US Feds do and they don't - thank heavens - get to decide who stays in Parkhurst and who doesn't.

Tom Gelsinon Owen Morgan • Apr 30, 2020 at 13:55

A quibble, Owen. The Flynn "interview" was not slapdash. It was a premeditated crime, a slimy pretext for a sustained assault on the Executive Branch â€” just one of many slimy pretexts.

Owen Morgan Tom Gelsinon • Apr 30, 2020 at 14:20

Yes, good point. I suppose I should have said that the FBI interview technique is intended to appear slapdash to the victim. The aspects which look most sloppy to outsiders and to the ones getting interrogated are also the ones which get results: the lack of annoying recordings, the ability to cobble together one's interview notes three months after the event (and three months after that and three...).

I absolutely agree: This was a premeditated crime.

Tom Gelsinon • Apr 30, 2020 at 13:19

Excellent point about Judge Sullivan needing to "extinguish the assault on his own courthouse." I have doubts that he will, though. He has said a number of bizarre things during this disgusting, seditious affair. At some point last year, in court, he angrily accused Flynn, a decorated 30-year military veteran, of being a traitor. I won't hold my breath until the application of justice occurs in the case of Gen. Flynn, but am hopeful it will. Of course justice should be visited on all the schemers from Comey right down the line, but there is little chance of that happening I fear, but am hopeful I am wrong about that.